Flasher light mounting



United States Patent 3,135,463 FLASHER LIGHT MGUNTHNG Norval l). @shurn, St. Petershurg, Fla, assignor to Flasher Flare Southeast, loo, Tampa, Fla a corporation of Florida Filed Get. 17, 196%, 591. No. 63,27 Claims. ll. 2449-4) This invention relates broadly to a novel lamp assembly and is more particularly directed to a warning lamp assembly such as a flasher unit of the type which is adapted to be mounted on a barricade and utilized on highways to warn motorists of highway construction areas or the like.

More specifically the invention is directed to a novel lamp assembly of the foregoing type which is designed to have a greatly increased life over prior devices of this class and which is designed to substantially reduce mechanical fatigue of various parts of the assembly and breakage thereof resulting from shock loads.

The lamp assembly which I have devised comprises generally a battery casing having means formed integrally therewith for mounting the casing on a road barricade and having a lamp head rotatably mounted on the casing containing a lamp which is energized by a battery.

The casing has a mounting plate extending therefrom which is cooperable with a complementary mounting plate formed integrally with and extending from the battery casing cover. The casing has a lip depending therefrom and a portion of the cover is disposed in juxtaposition to the inner surface of the lip so that the interior of the casing is substantially protected from rain, snow and the like. As single tamper-proof bolt extends through one leg section of the barricade and through the mounting plates to positively secure the cover to the casing in its proper location and to rigidly support the casing and its associated lamp head. The casing, when so mounted, has its base wall sloping downwardly with respect to the horizontal to permit drainage of any water which might seep into the casing.

The lamp head comprises generally a rim (illustrated as being cylindircal in form) which is rotatably mounted on the top wall of the battery casing. A translucent tube extends diametrically across the rim and has at least one end secured to the rim. An ordinary lamp bulb is disposed inside the translucent tube midway between its ends so that the bulb is disposed at the center axis of the rim. The lead wires from the battery extend up into the hollow translucent tube and are connected to the lamp bulb and constitute the only means for supporting the lamp bulb in the tube. Since these lead wires are the sole supporting means for the bulb in the tube, rotation of the rim and/or rotation of the translucent tube will not twist the lead wires since the lead wires and bulb are freely positioned within the tube.

A resilient liner having a width considerably less than the width of the rim is bonded to the inner surface of the rim and its opposite edges serve as seats for colored lenses. The lenses are seated on the opposed edges of the liner and are interconnected with one another by a plurality of securing means. There is no rigid connection between the lenses and the rim so that breakage of the lenses, due to shocks applied to the rim, is substantially eliminated.

Since the translucent tube is connected to the rim rather than the casing, the tube will always extend across the axis of the rim even if the rim is tilted with respect to the casing. By maintaining the lamp bulb midway between the opposite ends of the translucent tube, the lamp bulb will therefore always remain in the optical center of the lenses at the center axis of the rim. It will be recog- "ice nized that this feature is particularly important in properly projecting the light emitted from the bulb.

It is therefore a principal object of the present invention to provide a novel lamp assembly comprising a casing and a lamp head which is rotatable on the casing and which has a lamp bulb mounted in the lamp head whereby means are provided for maintaining the lamp bulb at the center axis of the lamp head rim and for preventing mechanical fatigue of the lead wires leading from the casing to the lamp bulb.

Another and important object of the invention resides in the provision of means for simply but rigidly mounting the casing on the usual type of road barricade.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a lamp assembly of the foregoing type which is substan' tially tamper-proof and weather proof.

These and other objects of the invention will become apparent from time to time as the following specification proceeds and with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIGURE '1 is a front elevational view of a lamp assembly constructed in accordance with the principles of the present invention mounted on the usual type of road barricade;

FKGURE 2 is a vertical sectional view through the lamp assembly, fragmentarily illustrating the road barricade upon which it is mounted; and

FIGURE 3 is a front elevational view of the lamp assembly illustrated in FIGURES 1 and 2 but showing the lamp head cocked with respect to the casing upon which it is mounted.

The lamp assembly ll comprises a battery casing 11 which is mounted on a road barricade 12 and which has a lamp head 13 rotatably mounted thereon.

The lamp head 13 comprises a cylindrical rim 14 which has a resilient liner of sponge rubber or the like 15 bonded to the inner periphery thereof. The rim 14 is welded or otherwise rigidly secured to an annular washer 16. A hollow bolt 17 having a central bore 18 and a head 19 extends through the annular washer to and an aperture in the top wall 20 of the casing 11 and has a nut 21 threadedly mounted thereon which serves to positively secure the rim 14 to the top wall 29.

The nut 21 is suiiiciently torqued at time of assembly to permit, under tension, complete rotation of the lamp head. This allows optimum beaming of the emitted light rays toward traffic irrespective of the placement of the barricade.

A shoulder 23 lies intermediate the bore 18 and a radially enlarged portion 24 thereof which serves as a seat for one end of a translucent tube 25. As illustrated in FIGURES 2 and 3 the tube 25 extends diametrically across the rim 14 and has its upper end disposed in juxtaposition to the inner periphery of the rim 14 in a pocket cut in the resilient liner 35. The enlarged portion 24 of the bore 18 may be formed of sufficient diameter to pro vide a relatively loose fit for the tube 25 so that the tube is permitted some freedom of angular movement relative to the washer and bolt 16 and 17, respectively.

A pair of lenses 26 are mounted in the lamp head with their peripheries lying against the outer edges of the resilient liner 15 and are secured together by bolts 26a.

The bolts 26a are the sole means for mounting the lenses pair of leg sections 27 which are pivotally mounted together by bolts 27a extending through adjacent legs 28. Horizontally extending planks 29 are nailed or otherwise rigidly secured to each of the legs 28 in each leg section 27 and are usually imprinted with warning indicia as illustrated in FIGURE 1.

The battery casing 11 has a base wall 30 which is positioned at an angle of greater than 90 with respect to the rear wall 31 thereof and has a downwardly sloping mounting plate 32 formed integrally therewith. A lip 33 depends from the top wall 26 and defines an opening in the battery casing through which a battery 34 may be inserted. A cover 35 overlies the batteiy 34 and has its upper end lying adjacent the inner surface of the depending lip 33. A mounting plate 36 is formed integrally with the cover 35 and lies at an angle with respect to the cover so that the cover will lie parallel with the rear wall 31 when the mounting plates 32 and 36 are in juxtaposition to one another.

It may be desirable to provide a number of road barricades with permanently or semi-permanently installed means for readily mounting lamp assemblies thereon. In such a case, the mounting plate 36 may be secured to a plank 29 by screws 33 extending through the mounting plate 36 and threaded into tamper-proof nuts 39 recessed in the plank 29. Under such conditions the remainder of the lamp assembly 10 can readily be mounted on the barricade 12 by fitting the lip 33 of the casing over the upper end of the cover 35 and by positioning the mounting plate 32 over the exposed heads of the screws 33.

As viewed in FIGURE 2, a nut 40 is welded or otherwise rigidly secured to the mounting plate 32 with its center aperture in registry with an aperture in the plate 32. The plate 36 also has an aperture formed therein which lies in registry with the aperture in the plate 32 when the casing 11 and cover 35 are positioned as shown. The plank 29 has an enlarged bore 44 formed therein in registry with the apertures in the mounting plates 32 and 36 which receives the enlarged head 45 of a tamper-proof bolt 46 having its shank threaded into the nut 40. The head 45 lies on the upper surface of the mounting plate 36 but entirely within the recess 44 to prevent tampering therewith. The head 4-5 is of the so-called tamperproof type having a center aperture 47 and a curvilinear hollow 48 in the periphery thereof which practically can only be loosened after it is tightly secured in position, by a complementary wrench designed for that purpose.

The single tamper-proof bolt 46 thus not only secures the cover 35 to the casing 11 but also serves to mount the casing 11 on the barricade 12. It will be appreciated that other locations for securing the lamp assembly 10 to the barricade 12 by means of the tamperproof bolt 46 are also encompassed within the scope of the invention.

When the lamp assembly 10 is mounted on a barricade as illustrated in FIGURE 2, the bottom wall 30 of the casing 11 slopes downwardly from the horizontal so that any Water which may happen to seep into the interior of the casing can drain off.

Lead wires 48 are connected to (in a manner not shown) and extend from the battery 34 upwardly through the bore 18 and the hollow interior of the translucent tube 25. These wires are connected at their opposite ends to a lamp bulb socket 49 which has an ordinary lamp bulb 50 removably mounted therein. The wires are somewhat stilt and serve as the sole means of support for the socket and bulb. The lead wires 43 also extend through and are snugly engaged by a rubber stopper 51 which fits within the open end of the bore 18. By controlling the length of the wires intermediate the stopper 51 and the socket 49, the lamp bulb 50 may be positioned midway between the ends of the tube 25 at the exact center axis of the rim 14.

The stopper 51 not only facilitates assembly and/or servicing of the light mounting but also prevents the seepage of water into the battery casing in the event that one or both of the lenses 26 and the tube 25 becomes broken.

Since the lamp bulb 59 is freely mounted in the translucent tube 25, the lead wires 43 will not be bent when the lamp head is rotated on the casing. As a result, the lead wires will be subjected to very little mechanical fatigue. Still further, a lamp bulb may be readily replaced by pulling the stopper 51 from the bore 18 and withdrawing the lead wires 48 and lamp bulb socket 49 from the tube 25.

A flasher unit may, of course, be mounted in the casing 11 to effect intermittent or periodic energization of the lamp bulb 50 and in such a case, it will be connected in series between the battery 34 and the lamp socket 49.

It will be understood that road barricades are not infrequently knocked over by on-coming vehicles. In order to reduce damage to the lamp assembly resulting from impact with the ground after the road barricade has been knocked over, the barricade and lamp assembly may be positioned in the manner shown in FIGURE 1 with the inclined mounting plates 32 and 36 facing toward oncoming traflic. If a barricade should be knocked over in a rearward direction and collapse as a result thereof, the configuration of the mounting plates 32 and 36 and the manner in which they are mounted on the barricade will act to prevent the lamp head 13 from contacting the ground. This, of course, will substantially reduce break age to various parts of the lamp assembly.

However, if an object should strike the lamp assembly, the rim 14 may be displaced from its normal position due to bending of the top wall 20 or a portion of the rim 14 but the lamp bulb 50 will remain at the center axis of the rim 14 since it is maintained in this position by the trans lucent tube 25 extending diametrically across the rim. In FIGURE 3, the rim 14 is shown in such a displaced position with the bulb still disposed at the optical center axis of the lenses 26. While the washer 16 and head 19 of the bolt 17 are here shown as being displaced from the top wall of the casing it will be understood that the tube 25 is loosely mounted in the bolt 17 and that the tube 25 will extend across the diameter of the rim even though there is relative angular movement between the members 16, 17 and the rim 14.

The lenses are secured solely to one another on opposite sides of the resilient liner 15 and are not rigidly connected to the frame 14 so that breakage thereof is considerably reduced when the lamp head 13 is subjected to impact.

It will be understood that the illustrated embodiment of the invention has been used for illustrative purposes only and that various modifications and variations in the present invention may be efiected without departing from the spirit and scope of the novel concepts thereof.

I claim as my invention:

1. A lamp assembly comprising a casing, a protective rim connected to said casing, a translucent hollow member extending diametrically across said rim and having lighting means supported midway between the ends there of, means for energizing said lighting means, a resilient liner lying along the inner surface of said rim in lining relation thereto, and translucent lenses seated freely on opposite sides of said liner and connected solely to one another in protected relation with respect to said rim.

2. In combination with a road barrier having a pair of pivotally interconnected leg sections: a lamp assembly comprising a casing having an open side, a lamp head mounted on said casing having a lamp therein, means for energizing said lamp disposed within said casing, a cover closing the open side of said casing, complementary mounting plates formed integrally with said casing and cover, and single bolt means interconnecting said mounting plates and one of said leg sections.

3. In combination with a road barrier having a pair of pivotally interconnected leg sections: a lamp assembly comprising a casing having an open side, a lamp head mounted on said casing having a lamp therein, means for energizing said lamp disposed within said casing, a cover closing the open side of said casing, complementary mounting plates formed integrally with said casing and cover,

screw means having heads disposed on one side of said cover mounting plate and extending therethrough and mounting said cover mounting plate on one of said leg sections and single bolt means mounting the other of said mounting plates over said screw heads and securing said casing to said one of said leg sections.

4. A lamp assembly comprising a casing, a rim, a hollow bolt pivotally mounting said rim to said casing, a hollow translucent member extending diametrically across said rim, a battery within said casing, lead wires extending from said battery and through said hollow bolt into the interior of said translucent member, a stopper snugly engaging said lead wires and positioned within said hollow bolt for providing a fluid tight seal through the hollow interior thereof, and a lamp bulb freely positioned within said translucent member and operatively connected to and supported by said lead wires and the engagement of said wires with said stopper.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

1. A LAMP ASSEMBLY COMPRISING A CASING, A PROTECTIVE RIM CONNECTED TO SAID CASING, A TRANSLUCENT HOLLOW MEMBER EXTENDING DIAMETRICALLY ACROSS SAID RIM AND HAVING LIGHTING MEANS SUPPORTED MIDWAY BETWEEN THE ENDS THEREOF, MEANS FOR ENERGIZING SAID LIGHTING MEANS, A RESILIENT LINER LYING ALONG THE INNER SURFACE OF SAID RIM IN LINING RELATION THERETO, AND TRANSLUCENT LENSES SEATED FREELY ON OPPOSITE SIDES OF SAID LINER AND CONNECTED SOLELY TO ONE ANOTHER IN PROTECTED RELATION WITH RESPECT TO SAID RIM. 